Marine Corps Quilt of Valor

Susan in Michigan made this Marine Corps Quilt of Valor.  It has a Marine Corps insignia in the center, with lots of borders.  It's approx 60 x 60.

center insignia:

I outlined the center design, put a star in each corner, 

and wiggly lines in the small borders around the insignia

I quilted an 8-pointed star in the center of the red stars, 

with line dancing in the white surrounding them

Wiggly lines in the first border

8-pointed stars in the different sections of the second border

The outer border has a piano key effect

The backing is black like the outer border although the color is bad here.  It shows all the different quilting patterns and has a "whole cloth" look to it.  I can't re-take these pictures as the quilt is already on it's way to Susan for finishing.

Darla's Stars

This is a charity quilt made from BOM blocks that I won last winter.  It will be donated as a comfort quilt to our local children's charity.  The pattern uses 1/2 snowball blocks to form a slanted star.  You have to look closely, but they are there.  The body of the star is light, while the 6 points are the colored triangles.  It's 40 x 56.

I changed the look of the quilt with the quilting.  By adding lines and filling in triangles, I change the star to a broken dishes block.

Thanks to Judi Madsen of Green Fairy Quilts for her great instruction in the classes that I took at the AQS  quilt show in Paducah last April.

broken dishes block

I continued the quilting pattern in the border:

border

I found the backing at an  estate sale.  It's perfect for a children's quilt. 

 The words follow the tune of Row Row Row your Boat:

Brush, brush, brush your teeth

Gently till they gleam.

Flossing, flossing, flossing, flossing

Now your smile's a dream.

backing

Katie's Mystery

This is another version of the mystery I ran for our guild last summer.  Katie made her's a Halloween version wit lots of great orange & black fabrics.  It's 56 x 80

There are lots of fun fabrics:

We decided on an all-over pattern.  So I made up my own pantograph of bats and ghosts with some loops to separate them.  It came out really great:

bat

ghost

The backing is pieced also.  The colors are more orange than what shows here.

Hobo Heaven

My guild had a "recycle" challenge - we had to make a quilt using recycled fabrics.  I chose denim because I've been collecting them for a while in anticipation of making this quilt.  So the challenge brought the wait to an end.  Some of the jeans were mine, some my husband's and others were purchased at the Goodwill Store in order to get a variety of color.  Finished size is 72 x 72.  I quilted a blunt tipped spiral to give it a lot of texture.  It's one of my favorites.

The pattern is Denim Rails by Bonnie Hunter.

It's a simple pattern - combining a 9-patch block with a rail fence block:

9-patch

rails

I used a red bandana print for the back to give it a Hobo feel, and used the same for binding.

Charlotte's Mystery

Charlotte made this from a mystery pattern that I ran last summer for our guild.  However, she waited till it was done so she could put her own spin on it, and change the colors to create secondary patterns.  It looks really different from the original  (here) and (here).  She planned her colors well.  The quilt is 56 x 80.

I used a black/white variegated thread throughout.  There are loops in the white setting squares:

and "bananas" in the triangles and small squares:

The pattern forms two central stars:

Charlotte's color placement created some very different sections of the quilts.  She got all her stripes going in just the right directions:

I continued the "banana" feel in the borders.  The variegated thread gives them a great look:

The backing is a black on white print that hides the quilting well:

Quilt of Valor

This top was made by someone at the Bits 'n Pieces Quilt Shop.  It closed suddenly due to the passing of the owner, so my guild inherited the top.   I used a khaki colored thread throughout most of it, but added a blue in the star centers and cornerstones.  It's 74 x 70, and will be donated to a veteran through the Quilts of Valor program.

 There are different backgrounds and star centers:

I quilted the same design in each star background:

The star centers each got an 8-pointed star, with little curves in the red triangles.  I also put small stars in the blue cornerstones:

The sashings are a great striped fabric, and I quilted 3 stars in each section:

The backing is a blue floral tone on tone:

Pat's brights

Pat is not at all a lover of bright fabrics, but she made this quilt for a young girl on her street.  I used purple thread and did a simple meander.  It's 57 x 73

It is random blocks of lots of bright fun fabrics:

close up of some fabrics:

The backing is chevrons of some of the same bright colors.